To the Finish Line
September 18th, 2008
By Lauren Eames
“I can’t do it,” I told myself.
Sitting in class at school one day, I was greatly excited to be picked as part of an extension maths program. The teacher gave me several papers to complete. They had to be completed and handed in for marking by a certain date.
When I got the assignment, I was determined to achieve an “excellence” award for it, the highest mark possible. But now, with under 24 hours until the maths assignment was due to be handed in, I wasn’t even nearly finished with the papers I had to do. The goal I had previously set myself now looked impossible. The time to finish this math project was fast running out.
When I had been given the assignment, I started off working hard on it. But as time went on, other things got in the way. Before I knew it, the deadline for finishing this assignment was knocking at my door.
By not being aware of the time remaining for the completion of this project, and by not managing my time well, I was now less than 24 hours away from the deadline rushing up to meet me. In my mind I had already given up. I told myself it was just too hard, and I was prepared to settle for an “achieved,” the lowest mark possible without failing the assignment!
Thoughts raged in my mind over what to do. I certainly wasn’t happy to settle for an “achieved,” but it was just too hard to achieve an “excellence” in the little time I had left.
But after talking to God and asking Him for help, I eventually decided I should still try for an “excellence” mark anyway.
I settled back down to work. As I went, I became more and more determined to achieve that excellence award. With each step that took me closer to finishing the array of investigations that the assignment consisted of—and the closer I came to that “excellence” award—the more determined I became to persevere and achieve my goal.
Then I was hit with another obstacle. There was another part to the assignment I hadn’t expected at all. I had to draw up and provide details for big designs. The reality that this would take up much of my scarce amount of time was a major blow. But I had to keep going. If I gave up now, all my previous work and determination would have been for nothing, and I would have no chance of achieving the goal of excellence. If I kept going, at least I still had a chance of achieving excellence, no matter how slim that chance may be. I had to persevere and not give up!
More setbacks continued to pop up as I worked on this assignment, like the usual everyday things that need to be done. Those setbacks used up precious time—time that was decreasing every second!
The tension continued to build inside me as I came down to only minutes left to complete the assignment.
With the last few minutes ticking rapidly by, I finally broke through the last problem and completed the assignment!
Later, I found myself nervously sitting in the assembly hall, anxiously awaiting my grade as the results for the maths assignment were announced. My name was called, then the award I had achieved for the assignment.
The excellence award!
Relief flooded over me, and excitement bubbled inside me. And then I realized how much perseverance really does pay off.
If I had given up when things looked bleak and allowed myself to continue believing it was just too hard, I would never have achieved that “excellence” award. The satisfaction you feel after you have successfully completed something you at first thought was impossible is great! The feeling of achievement and accomplishment of having reached the goal makes it all that much more worthwhile.
That was the day I learned that no matter how dim things look, never give up. Even on your homework! I learned to dismiss negative thoughts of giving up. Now I really understand the importance of the phrase “Never give up; never say die.”
What experiences have you had like that?
September 18th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Hey Lauren,
Great article! There have been many times where finishing my homework on time just seemed impossible, but when I prayed to God about it, things always worked out. Perseverance is so important - no wonder it’s one of the seven laws of success!!
Thanks for your personal example to show how it’s so important.
September 18th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
experiences like that will teach you how to handle the obstacles that will come your way in the future.
September 18th, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Hey Lauren-
I actually just had an experience like this. I had a Biology lab to turn in the next day. I just could not understand what I was supposed to do. Just as I thought it was pointless, I prayed to God for his intervention. Afterwards, my mind completely cleared allowing me to think again and get the lab report done. What would we do without God’s help?
That was an amazing article! Good job!
September 19th, 2008 at 1:39 am
heya lauren!!
this is definitely what some of us need right now… a bit of a pick up… so many assignments due. time flies by faster when more obstacles get in the way. very distressing. brings you closer to God aye?
i’m really glad you succeeded. well done on the maths assignment.
September 19th, 2008 at 9:05 am
Lauren, way to go on your article! I hope we see more from you soon?
I know throughout college there were many times the only way I got stuff done was praying God would “move mountains” so to speak.
But one time we all knew we had a test coming, the teacher was late, but when he came in he said, “I was going to give you a test, but something happened with the printer and I couldn’t get it to print.”
One of my classmates dropped to his knees from his chair and said, “Yes, yes… I just want you all to know I prayed about that this morning.” We all busted out laughing, including the teacher.
September 19th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Hi Lauren! Congrats on your first article. That is so true — we never can afford to give up, and we all need God’s help. Well done!
September 20th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
Hey Lauren!
Good on you for writing your first article! Hope to see more from you in the future. I hope that I can also learn the same lesson of perseverance in my life when I come across obstacles like assignments, projects, etc.
Great job!!
September 22nd, 2008 at 6:04 am
At the beginning of this year we had a music composition task where we had to write a piece of music. Time just went so fast and, as you said, other things kept getting in the way. Soon two weeks turned into one week. I eventually got started, doing just a little bit each day, because each little bit took me a long time. I soon found out a little bit each day wasn’t enough and soon it was to night before it was due and the majority of the piece had not been written! I persevered late into the night, or shall we say into the early morning. I was so tired and stressed. Something else that added to the stress was that the computer program I was writing the music onto would not save my work! Every click I made had to be careful so to not close it all down and lose it all. I completed it finally and printed it out and went to bed to get what little sleep I could. I got up early that morning to do the written explanation of the piece, then hurried off to school late, only to go to music class and discover that I had done the written part all wrong! So in my tired, stressed state I worked through the music lesson and through lunch to do the written part again. I handed it in, glad to get it away and hoping I had done a good job when I was so tired. Later we got the results back and I got the highest mark of the class - just half a mark below full marks! My teacher was thrilled with my composition. All my hard work really did pay off!
October 18th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
hey Lauren!!
great article!!really enjoyed reading it!!
keep up the good work!!
October 22nd, 2008 at 2:30 am
wow! that was great! I have to agree. No matter how impossible things may seem we shouldn’t just give up right away. These trials will make us stronger and closer to God
January 2nd, 2009 at 5:24 pm
Great to hear from you! Keep up the good work.
January 2nd, 2009 at 6:28 pm
Great article Lauren! Very inspiring I really enjoied reading it. Keep up the good work